Pirates’ Jared Jones Meeting With Elbow Specialist Following Setback, May Require Tommy John Surgery
Any hope of Jared Jones returning to game action in 2025 is starting to look more grim by the day.
The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander is set to be re-evaluated this week after suffering a setback recently in his throwing program. He’s been sidelined all season since being diagnosed with a UCL strain during spring training.
According to multiple reports, Jones is scheduled to visit with Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday to determine the severity of his ailment. While nothing has been officially decided yet, per MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf, everything is reportedly on the table – including surgery.
John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now reported Sunday that Jones will likely undergo Tommy John surgery to repair his UCL injury and that his procedure is expected to occur soon. If he does require surgery, he’d miss the remainder of this season and likely the first half of 2026.
The 23-year-old hurler made four Grapefruit League starts, posting a 2.25 ERA with 17 strikeouts over 12.0 innings, before landing on the shelf in March. After tests revealed his elbow remained intact and was stable, both sides agreed to opt for rehab and had planned to shut him down from throwing for six weeks.
Jones resumed playing catch in late April and initially targeted a return to the mound around the All-Star break. But now, there’s a chance he might not throw another pitch until next year.
This time last year, Jones was in the midst of his breakout season with Pittsburgh, earning a 4.14 ERA and 4.00 FIP with 132 strikeouts in 22 starts as a rookie. He made the Opening Day roster out of camp, making his major league debut versus the Miami Marlins on Mar. 30, striking out a career-high 10 batters over 5.2 innings of three-run ball.
The Whittier, CA, native pitched to an impressive 3.56 ERA and 3.75 FIP while issuing 98 punchouts across 91 innings through his first 16 big-league starts. But he suffered a right lat injury in early July that kept him out until late August, and he didn’t carry the same dominance on the mound following his late-season return.
Despite an encouraging first-half performance, Jones struggled over the final six starts of his rookie campaign, stumbling to a 5.87 ERA and 4.76 FIP while surrendering six total home runs in 30.2 innings.
Entering this season, Jones – a 2020 second-round selection out of La Mirada HS – was supposed to co-headline the organization’s formidable starting pitching trio alongside reigning NL Rookie of the Year winner Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller.
The Pirates, who haven’t made the playoffs in almost a decade, had planned to build around those three with a young crop of arms in the system featuring top prospect Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington.
But those plans have since hit a major snag, especially as the team sits last in the NL Central at 15-32. All they can do now is hope Jones can avoid the worst-case scenario as he searches for answers regarding his latest injury setback.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Britt Reints. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.